Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Minstrel Shows

[DWSI at aol.com]

Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Minstrel Shows
I believe it is very difficult for us older white guys (that play the young 
blacks music of long ago) to really understand the derogatory pain caused by 
words like those being discussed, and in particular, the word, "nigger." Why? 
Because we didn't mean anything by using them back then, and, therefore, those 
words generally did not have the hatred and anger in them that so many blacks 
felt for as long as they have been used. It's a perverse kind of reverse logic. 
I cite one anecdote to make my point. I worked for a large brewer in the 
Northeast. One of the older salesman I worked with told me how he rode home 
through downtown Newark every night on the bus. He claimed he would look out the 
window and see the fallen down neighborhoods with blacks sitting on crates 
drinking beer and smiling as proof they were happy with their lot. Yes, he really 
said "proof." How can you reason with that kind of logic?

Dan (piano fingers) Spink